A Seated Shepherdess

One of the most influential landscape painters of the 1830s, Dupré was among the leaders of the Barbizon school, a group of artists who painted the landscape and rural subjects in and around the Forest of Fontainebleau, about 40 miles southeast of Paris. He frequently made drawings in black chalk heightened with white chalk or pastel on tan or brown paper, as seen here. Dupré’s special interest in atmospheric conditions is apparent in the luminosity of the sky and the reflected light on the surrounding landscape.